Too much research, too few startups: Noctua raises €15M to close Austria's deeptech gap

Noctua Science Ventures, a specialised pre-seed fund for research-based deeptech spin-offs from Austria, has successfully completed its first closing at €15 million and has begun investing.  First close investors include ERSTE Group, Verbund and Allocator  One. 

Originally founded as a joint venture between Speedinvest and TU Wien, Noctua has now expanded its shareholder base to include further leading technical universities. TU Wien, TU  Graz, Montanuniversität Leoben, the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna  (“BOKU”) and Johannes Kepler University Linz are now part of the operating company behind Noctua, anchoring the fund in Austria’s research system.

According to Philipp Stangl, Investment Lead, Noctua Science Ventures:

“Cutting-edge research only realises its full value once it finds its way to market – but private funding for high-risk deep-tech projects is often lacking.

With our first closing, we are  stepping into this gap and supporting the next generation of spin-offs from their very first  financing round.” 

Austria is one of the most research-intensive countries in Europe. Yet a significant share of the intellectual property created at universities and research institutions remains unused, and the number of successful spin-offs is low by EU standards. 

A key reason is the lack of specialised financing instruments at the earliest stage.  Noctua Science Ventures backs promising technologies as early as the pre-seed stage and turns excellent science into scalable companies early on – creating value, innovative strength and highly qualified jobs in Austria. 

The fund is backed by a strong group of capital providers. Alongside institutional investors such as Erste Group Bank AG, AWS (Austria Wirtschaftsservice), VERBUND X Ventures, and the emerging manager fund of funds Allocator One, the consortium includes several deeptech entrepreneurs.  The fund will admit further investors on a selective basis over the coming months. 

Noctua plans to make up to ten investments per year and can commit up to €500,000 per spin-off as lead investor in the very first financing round. 

This allows research grants to be leveraged to best effect and sound structures to be put in place from the outset. Particular emphasis is placed on a well-considered tech transfer and IP strategy from an early stage, on complementing scientist-founders with experienced entrepreneurs, and on a future-proof cap table. 

The fund invests on a technology-agnostic basis at the pre-seed stage in the most promising spin-off teams across Austria – explicitly including spin-offs from institutions outside its shareholder group. Further selection criteria are scalability, market size and defensibility. 

Since the first closing, the fund has already completed several investments, two of which have been made public: Turn-Motion from Vienna and DiLt Analytics from Graz. 

Lead image: Noctua Science Ventures.